Otherworldly Merchant

I decided to put this matter related to the jade thumb ring aside for now and asked Li Mazi, “What information did you find?”

Li Mazi was nervous. “I didn’t get any important clue, but I saw something very abnormal!”

"Oh? What is it?”

“The four members of Liu Laogen’s family are back.” Li Mazi lowered his voice. “They’re in their villa.”

“What?” I was startled. “Hurry, take me there to see them!”

Li Mazi immediately stopped me. “Don’t. Do you still want to live? I think we should discuss things first.”

I caught onto his serious tone and knew the situation wasn’t that simple. “Why do you say so?”

“Liu Laogen and his family brought a lot of pork heads and legs, cakes, and all kinds of fruits to the leveled well. They banged their heads to worship the well. They pounded their heads hard. Blood was everywhere. While doing that, they were also wolfing down the food. There were around five strong men who tried to stop them but they couldn’t do anything. They have scared people out of their wits.”

“That otherworldly item has affected his entire family?” My brows slammed together.

“Right.” Li Mazi nodded. “That damn fatty was enough to give us a headache. And now, all four members of his family have become foodies.”

“That’s not good. We should go there and see.” I pondered then said, “If we can’t beat them, we can run away. We have the car, anyways.”

When Li Mazi got in the car, he saw the fingerprints on the windows. He was scared and shivered. “Little Brother Zhang, what happened to the car windows?”

“I can’t explain in a short time. I’ll tell you later.”

Then, I stepped on the throttle and drove directly to Taiping Town!

Fortunately, when we got to the town, Liu Laogen and his family were still there.

They knelt by the well and used their dirty hands to pick up the pig heads and legs. They shoved the meat into their mouths. I looked at the old beggar, who was vomiting while trying to shove more food into his mouth.

Although they were acting very strangely, their neighbors did not seem to bother with the situation; they didn’t even stop to look at them.

I understood that the people here knew the Lius were in trouble, but no one was willing to help them. It seemed Liu Laogen’s family didn’t have a good reputation in this town!

I walked over and found the old beggar and his wife gnawing on the pork legs while Er Kui and his fat brother respectfully kowtowed in front of the ancient well with regretful faces.

I didn’t hesitate and pat Liu Laogen’s shoulder. “Sir, wake up!”

It seemed it wasn’t going to work, so Li Mazi directly took the Sirius Whip from my hand. He wanted to whip Liu Laogen in order to wake him up, but I hurried to stop him.

If we used the Sirius Whip, we might provoke the thing inside the well. Then, we wouldn’t be able to control the situation anymore.

So, if we could use gentler means, it was better to do so!

I grabbed Liu Laogen, and I hacked at his nape with my hand. It was a good method to wake people up from illusions.

However, it seemed they weren’t affected by an illusion. It was something in their bodies.

While I was scratching my head to think about a possible solution, Liu Laogen’s family stood up and was about to leave.

There was no more time. If we let them leave, we wouldn’t be able to find them later.

Helplessly, I used the Sirius Whip, coiling it around Liu Laogen’s neck as I tried to pull him back.

However, Liu Laogen was really strong. When he moved forward, I was dragged along together with the whip. In desperation, I couldn’t do anything else but ask Li Mazi to help me tie the Sirius Whip to the iron gate.

Liu Laogen was so strong that he eventually broke the iron gate. His face was pale and he seemed to be only one breath away from suffocating.

I was really worried and afraid that he would be killed here.

While I was hesitating on whether to let go of the Sirius Whip or not, a roar came from the ancient well. I could even see the ground by the well lifting up a little bit. However, everything resumed normal shortly after.

After Liu Laogen spurted black blood, he feebly crouched on the ground. He cried and wept.

I let out a slight sigh. Liu Laogen had gotten rid of the control of that damn thing.

It better not to stay here for a long time, so we hurried and put Liu Laogen into the car then left.

When we reached a relatively safe place, I asked Li Mazi to stop the car. Panting, I turned to look at Liu Laogen.

Liu Laogen rubbed his round belly in agony. After quite a long time, he finally got a hold of himself. Then, he burst out crying and screeching.

I shouted, “All right, stop crying! Did you raise anything under that well?”

Liu Laogen was bewildered. Then, he slapped himself several times. “I’ve sinned! I’ve sinned!”

I knew something was wrong here. “Liu Laogen, what happened?”

Liu Laogen wept then told me the whole story from start to finish.

Everything had started with Liu Laogen’s ancestor.

Liu Laogen’s ancestor was a young scholar in the Song Dynasty. One year, his hometown had to endure a horrible drought where all the fields had dried. A liter of water was priced more than one copper coin.

The scholar only had one bottle of water left. It was so precious that he wouldn’t drink from it even though his mouth was dry of thirst.

However, on the way home, he found a round Tai Sui [1] dying on the road. It was about to die of thirst.

The nice scholar didn’t think much but poured half of his precious water bottle into the Tai Sui’s mouth. Then, he left with a smile.

The Tai Sui he saved had actually developed intelligence. To repay this favor, the Tai Sui came to him in his dream.

It told the young scholar that it had been living for quite a long time in his ancient well. Tomorrow morning, it would give him a precious jade thumb ring for him to take.

The Tai Sui also made an agreement with the young scholar!

Every month, the young scholar would bring fish and meat to feed the Tai Sui in the well. In return, it would let him cut a piece of its flesh to sell for money.

The Tai Sui’s flesh couldn’t be bought with thousands of gold. It was a valuable treasure since ancient times.

According to the ‘Classic of Herbal Medicine’, Tai Sui and fleshly spiritual mushrooms were good for the body because it nurtured the qi and cured all kinds of illnesses. If people used them for a long time, they could live a longer and healthier life.

The scholar was very happy. When he woke up the next morning, he found the jade thumb ring by the well in his house.

The Tai Sui had always kept its agreement. Every month it would float up from the ancient well and let the scholar cut its flesh to sell for money.

Slowly, the scholar became a rich man in his town. The Tai Sui was well-fed and continued to live in the well.

Before he died, the scholar told the agreement to his family members and asked them to feed the Tai Sui well. This was the key to ensure the prosperity of his family.

Since they had the Tai Sui, the scholar’s family didn’t need to work or worry about making ends meet. They had a life without worries.

However, during Liu Laogen’s generation, the situation changed dramatically.

Liu Laogen’s family was too greedy. After they cut the first piece of Tai Sui’s flesh, they immediately wanted a second piece, and then another. They sold the Tai Sui’s flesh and bought a villa and cars. This family of four had become a family of parvenus.

However, they were still not satisfied. Eventually, they decided to kill the Tai Sui and dismembered it into pieces, which they had exchanged for stacks of money. They had ignored the agreement their ancestor had told them to keep.

Anyways, the Tai Sui was a monster who had been cultivating for more than a thousand years. How could it be killed that easily? The Tai Sui was resentful for what Liu Laogen’s family had done to it. So, it possessed the oldest son’s body and crazily ate to get more nutrients in order to grow a new body…

After listening to his story, I had an urge to punch him.

If it weren’t for the otherworldly merchant’s rule, I would have left already!

1. A fleshy mushroom in Chinese legends.